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Lease Holder Handbook

The aim of our Handbook is to provide you with an overview about your lease.

Leaseholder Handbook

 

 

 

For more guidance on topics featured in the Handbook, please refer to any supplementary site-specific information, or contact us

Neighbourhood and Tenancy

Section 20 Notices 

The Section 20 consultation process was put in place to protect service charge payers and to make sure that landlords only carry out work or enter into service contracts that are necessary and at a reasonable cost.

Anyone who pays a service charge whether they are a leaseholder, shared owner or tenant could be affected by a section 20 consultation.

The process allows service charge payers the chance to comment on the works and sometimes to suggest contractors for the works depending on the value of the contract.

Changes to leaseholder ownership

Since the implementation of the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024, the UK Government has published a new Leaseholder Toolkit designed to help leaseholders understand the reforms and feel confident in exercising their new rights. The toolkit’s purpose is to build awareness, understanding and confidence around the changes introduced by the Act and to explain what these reforms mean in practice for leaseholders, freeholders and building managers.

Further information can be found on the government website including the toolkit

Frequently Asked Questions

For any one-off works that will cost an individual service charge payer over £250 or for any new service (for example ground maintenance) that lasts longer than 12 months and will cost any service charge payer over £100, we need to let you know and give you the chance to comment on what we are planning.

Your comments form part of a formal consultation between us and you and it is our legal requirement under section 20 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 to involve you.

This may vary according to the type of work and the cost, but it is usually along these lines:

  • We send you a ‘Notice of Intention’ telling you what work or type of contract we are planning to enter. This will include letting you know where you can find out more details and how you can provide your comments.
  • We get quotes from contractors or create a tender that is uploaded to the Proactis Tender Portal, taking in to account any comments we have already received.
  • We send you a ‘Notice of Proposal’ which gives you the details of companies we may appoint at the end of the consultation period.
  • Considering any feedback, we received we award the contract to a preferred supplier to carry out the work.
  • We will send you a ‘Notice of Estimates’ which is not a bill but will advise you of the estimated costs and the scope of the work ahead of starting any work on site.

If applicable, any nominations have to be made at Stage 1 (Notice of Intention) of this consultation.

You have a right to reply with your comments to a Section 20 notice up to thirty calendar days from the date of the notice.

Your reply is known as an ‘observation.’

We will give due regard to any observations received during the consultation period.

A summary of all the observations received and our responses to them will be sent out with the next stage of the consultation documents.

All the comments and feedback we receive are considered when planning the work and awarding the contract.

For notice/s accompanying these notes your observation must be in writing either by letter or email. Any email should be sent to HousingCapital@bromsgroveandredditch.gov.uk

Letters should be sent to the following address:

Sue Solomon, Tenant Liaison Officer, Crossgate House, Crossgate Road, Redditch, B98 7SN 

You cannot make observations verbally over the telephone or in person.

No, this is not a bill.

You do not need to make any payment in response to receiving these guidance notes or any enclosed notices. Any charges will be communicated to you separately and applied through your service charges.

On receiving a bill, there will be information on who to contact to discuss payment options.

If you receive a notice to your address but not in your name, please let us know,

it may be that our records need updating or that the leaseholder is subletting the property to you.

If you are a leaseholder sub-letting your property, please let us have a correspondence address so we can send S20 Notices to you there.

You should keep the documents safe and pass them to your solicitor when you have accepted an offer. Any potential purchaser needs to be aware of any Section 20 consultation.

Where can I go for advice?

You can contact your local Citizens Advice Bureau for independent advice.

 

The following websites also have useful information about the S20 process:

Leasehold Advice Centre 

Lease advice | Home

 

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